It Was Always You
by ko-chan-the-blueberry-donut
Summary: AU "C-Can I marry you s-someday?" Graham stuttered, his cheeks and even the tips of his ears turning pink. Carmen let out a laugh, flicking his forehead. "Ouch!". "You're silly! That would only happen if you became cool!" Carmen joked. Flash forward to college and Graham is no longer the meek boy she knew, and it seems she's in his sights. Oh boy. Red Crackle Carmen/Gray


Hey guys! Here is a Red Crackle AU!

Disclaimer: I don't own Carmen Sandiego

Summary: AU Carmen and Graham had been best friends since that moment she punched Sheena in the face for pushing Graham in the sandbox. She was younger, but she'd always be there to protect her best friend from bullies!

"C-Can I marry you s-someday?" Graham stuttered, his cheeks and even the tips of his ears turning pink. Carmen let out a laugh, flicking his forehead. "Ouch!"

"You're silly! That would only happen if you became cool!" Carmen joked.

Flash forward to college–Graham and Carmen are reunited and Graham isn't the same boy who needed Carmen to beat up his bullies anymore. Now he's super handsome, charming, and did he just wink at her?

"Graham?" Carmen choked.

"Actually it's Gray now." Gray smirked

* * *

Carmen remembers her first day of daycare at V.I.L.E—Valued Interest in Lengthened Education—in the Canary Islands. She was clinging to her adoptive father Suhara like he was her lifeline. Suhara was accepted to be a professor for the prestigious school from daycare to graduate school institution, and with that came Carmen's free ride into V.I.L.E Academy. Suhara would never have to worry about his little girl getting a poor education and Suhara was guaranteed his position with tons of benefits and job security.

However, a new home and a new school was quite scary for little Carmen, and she expressed displeasure at the move.

"I don't wanna go, Papa!" Three-year-old Carmen protested. "New places are scary! Japan is better!"

Suhara gave her a soft smile and patted her head.

"New places are only scary if you let them be." Suhara told her. Carmen pouted but saw his point.

"You'll be there?" Carmen asked.

"Yes. We'll be together." Suhara promised her. This swayed little Carmen, and she hugged her father tightly.

Now it was the big day. Today she would be meeting kids her own age who would be learning new stuff like her. She wondered if any of the kids would be lonely. Unlike her, none of their parents were allowed on the island. It was the price to pay for their little ones to gain the best education.

"What if no one likes me?" Carmen worried. Suhara grinned.

"They'd have low intelligence then." Suhara simply stated. Carmen giggled and allowed Suhara to hand her off to Miss Cookie Booker, the daycare to elementary director. Cookie cooed at the little girl. Suhara watched Carmen be taken away, inwardly wincing at the handful his daughter was. He hoped Miss Booker was used to mischievous children…

* * *

"Here we are, sweetheart!" Miss Booker opened the door to the daycare center and Carmen's eyes widened at the vast amount of kids and play equipment there was. There were also multiple tables for drawing and coloring and tons of toys to play with! Carmen didn't know what she wanted to do first!

Cookie put her down on the floor and left to attend to other duties. Carmen noticed a man with a hat staring at a picture lovingly, not at all paying attention to the kids running around. Carmen was alone. She shifted nervously before deciding to just roll with it and start playing. She hurried to the slide, racing up it and twisting herself over the bar to slide down.

"Hey there!" a voice with an accent called out. Carmen stopped flipping herself over the slide to see two orange haired kids staring at her in glee. The boy climbed up the small slide and moved beside her. "Did you try this?" he asked, using the overhead of the slide to roll himself backwards in a flip, slipping down the slide backwards. Carmen was excited. She copied the boy, her smaller size allowing her to be more graceful than him.

"Now you should try this one!" the girl joined them and proceeded to roll forward down the small slide. The boy and Carmen clapped in approval.

"Name's Ivy! This is my brother Zack!" Ivy introduced themselves.

"I'm Carmen!" Carmen grinned, happy she met fellow kids her age.

"Stick with us, Carm! We'll show you the ropes!" Zack says.

"Me and Zack are always doing tricks cause Mr. Haber is too busy making kissy faces at Miss Cleo!" Ivy added.

"Kissy faces?" Carmen tilted her face. Zack and Ivy grimaced together.

"Yeah! He ain't normal! Girls have cooties!" Zack shuddered. Ivy looked insulted.

"Excuse me?" Ivy put her little hands on her hips. Zack sweated a bit.

"Well I mean, you and Carm don't have cooties! You're awesome!" Zack amended. Ivy appeared satisfied. While they were bickering, Carmen's attention was drawn to the windows leading to the outside. Her eyes immediately locked onto the larger playground equipment where kids bigger than them were playing. Her heart longed to be out there—imagine all the tricks she could do!

"Oh! Yeah, we can't go out to the big kid playground yet." Ivy noticed where she was looking, also looking bummed out.

"Yeah! It stinks! The big kids get to go out there all the time! Unfair!" Zack gave off a pout, crossing his arms. "I could push Trey into a sandbox!"

Carmen continued to watch all the bigger kids playing outside. There were so many! However, her eyes caught a certain boy who looked fearful. He was older than her and looked nervous at the surrounding kids. Carmen's eyes narrowed when she saw a blonde-haired girl push the brown-haired boy into the sandbox, the other kids laughing.

Anger seized her, and before she thought about it, she was already running towards the windows, trying to unlock them. Zack and Ivy followed her, wondering what she was doing.

"It's okay, Carm! We'll get out there someday." Ivy tried to reassure her.

"There's a kid being pushed! We gotta help him!" Carmen told them, pointing to the scene. Zack and Ivy saw one of the kids kick some sand into the lanky brown-haired boy's face. The injustice of it caused them to race to the window and try to help their newfound friend. They were all too familiar with Trey picking on Zack to know what bullying looked like.

"Ow!" Zack exclaimed after punching the glass, nothing happening. He put his fist in his mouth to try and soothe it.

"We can't break it!" Ivy was frustrated. Carmen glanced up and saw a lock, her eyes glinting with an idea.

"Give me a boost!" Carmen urged them. Zack and Ivy allowed Carmen to climb their shoulders and she immediately grabbed the lock, unlatching it, the window creaking open enough for a little kid to slip through. "Yes!"

With that, she used Ivy and Zack to climb out the window, tumbling into the bushes. Not wasting any time, the three-year-old rolled to her feet and raced towards the sandbox. The brown-haired boy was rubbing his eyes to rid himself of sand, trying in vain not to cry as the kids laughed at him, and Carmen vaulted herself towards the blonde-haired girl as she was about to shove the boy again.

"Wha—" the girl cried as Carmen tackled her to the ground, sitting on her stomach and flinging her fists rapidly into the girl's face. The girl was screaming, drawing the attention of everyone on the playground. Her friends tried to help her, reaching for Carmen, but it appeared Zack and Ivy were able to escape as well because the twins gave a war cry, shoving themselves into the two other boys. Soon there were tons of kids in the elementary division coming over to witness the three daycare kids wail on some of the kindergartners.

"What in the world?!" A voice exclaimed. Someone was running towards them quickly and soon Carmen was lifted from the older girl, being restrained. "Stop this at once!" the stern voice ordered.

It was Miss Cookie Booker, looking furious and flabbergasted at how three of the daycare kids got out of the daycare room. Two other attendants scooped up Zack and Ivy as well, who struggled greatly in their arms.

"Let me at 'em!" Zack gave a shout, wiggling.

"We'll break their nose!" Ivy added.

"The twins…" Cookie Booker groaned in dismay. She looked down at Carmen who gave her a glare back. How dare this lady forbid her from beating up the bullies! Cookie's eyes narrowed. "How on earth did you three get out?"

"Ma'am! The window is wide open!" one of the attendants pointed. Sure enough, Miss Booker could see where Carmen, Zack and Ivy crawled out of. She paled.

"Where was Dash Haber? Those windows should remain locked!" Cookie exclaimed. Her eyes then narrowed. "He better not have been looking at pictures of Miss Cleo again or so help me—"

"I'll have you know I did no such thing!" Mr. Haber made himself known, his cheeks flushed, clearly indicating he was doing just that. He sighed when he saw the culprits of this fight. "Zack, Ivy, not you two again!"

"They had an accomplice this time." Cookie held up Carmen, who looked annoyed with being displayed to the faculty.

"She bwoke my wose!" the blonde-haired girl cried, blood coming from her nostrils. Her two friends looked worse for wear as well.

"Don't push people then!" Carmen fired back. The blonde-haired girl looked furious.

"Why you—"

"Sheena, you're picking on the other kids again?! I'll have to add that to your progress report to your parents! You too, Antonio and Jean Paul!" Miss Cookie barked. The three children protested, but Miss Booker was firm. She handed Carmen to Dash and ushered the three delinquents to the nurse's office. Dash eyed Carmen suspiciously and Carmen raised a brow back, daring him to say something. He sighed, signaling to the other attendants to follow him with Zack and Ivy. They were soon returned to the daycare center with the window being latched shut, Zack and Ivy praising her for her sick moves against Sheena.

"That was so cool! Think you can do that to Trey?" Zack asked her happily. Carmen grinned, glad Zack and Ivy still thought she was awesome.

"I hope that kid's okay." Carmen fretted, her mind still on the boy. Ivy patted her shoulder.

"I'm sure he's fine! He got a hero to save him!" Ivy pumped her fist. Carmen let herself be at ease and soon the three were back doing cool tricks on the play equipment. It wasn't until designated nap time that Carmen was reminded of her earlier battle.

Mr. Haber was currently out of the room, assisting with other duties during the kids' nap time. Carmen was woken up by a tiny knock on the window. Curious, she crept closer, finding the window slightly ajar. Mr. Haber must not have latched it shut all the way.

"Psst! You in there?" a boy's voice whispered. His face peaked up and Carmen saw it was the brown-haired boy from before. She stood on her tip toes to face him. Seeing her grey eyes locking with his brown ones, an elated grin erupted on his face. "It's you!" he spoke with a heavy accent, different from Zack and Ivy's but it wasn't unpleasant.

"It's you too!" Carmen whispered, her voice drifting through the gap. The boy looked positively ecstatic she remembered him. She nudged closer to the glass, attempting to get closer to him. He did the same, their breaths both coated their side of the glass.

"J-Just wanted to say thanks—you're a tough sheila!" the boy's meek tone traveled through the window. Carmen didn't know what a Sheila was, but found his stutter cute.

"You're welcome! My Papa says to always be like the samuwai! Samuwai are heroes!" Carmen told him, thinking back to Suhara and his stories about Japan.

"W-what's your name?" he was eager to know, despite his shyness. Carmen could see the bushes hid him well. No one was the wiser to him coming to the window and conversing with her.

"I'm Carmen! What's yours?" Carmen grinned. Her first day and she already was making even more friends! Papa will be so proud!

"I'm G—" here he squeaked, blushing heavily, before clearing his throat, continuing "I'm Graham." He tried to sound deeper, more confident. Carmen giggled and a delighted smile spread across his features. She placed her hand on the window glass, with Graham matching her.

"Nice to meet ya, Graham!" she whispered happily.

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

* * *

Let me know what you think if you can!


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